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“wave at the bus” (this dad is my hero)

it’s in the dad rulebook that a certain level of embarrassing your teenager, when done in a way that doesn’t belittle them, is golden. when it’s self-mocking, it’s even better. (my teenage daughter has, many times, said something to the tune of, “dad, your such a dork,” when she really means, “i love you.” or, at least, that’s how i hear it.)

so dale price, a dad in american fork, utah, is my hero.

here’s the story:

dale has a 16 year-old son who just finished his sophomore year of high school. on the first day of school, when rain (the son) was still 15, he walked to the school bus stop. his parents realized that the bus route had changed, and was going to bring rain — now on the bus — right back past their house. so they stood outside and waived to him as the bus passed. classed and awesome dorky parent move.

of course, rain was embarrassed. that was like catnip to dale.

so the next day, as the bus passed, dale was outside waving, dressed like this:

on day 3, he waved while dressed like this:

and, by then, he knew he was going to keep this up for the entire school year.

his wife, rochelle, recorded every day of it on a blog, logically called wave at the bus. yup, 170 costumes. 170 waves. 170 chances to subtly (as dale says in an article linked on the blog) say “i love you” to his teenage son.

check out the blog for all 170 photos, and some pretty funny explanations. but here are a few more choice days:

I’m Mark Oestreicher

I'm a partner in The Youth Cartel, providing services and resources for individual youth workers and organizations. I’ve been married to Jeannie for 30 years, and have two great kids: Riley (22) and Max (18).
Here's The Youth Cartel's website.
twitter: @markosbeard
instagram: @whyismarko